Bangladesh FM made D-8 Council of Ministers chair 

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has been made the chair for the D-8 Council of Foreign Ministers for the upcoming 10th D-8 Summit. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu handed over the post at the 19th Session of the D-8 Council of Ministers on Wednesday in a video conference, said a press release.

Foreign Minister chaired the meeting in presence of the Foreign Ministers of the D-8 member states.

At the onset of the meeting, Foreign Minister congratulated Turkish Foreign Minister for successfully completing his tenure as the Chair of the D-8 Council of Ministers. He also thanked D-8 Secretary General for his proactive initiatives to foster the values of the D-8.

Abdul Momen stated that 19 percent of the total population of the D-8 countries is youth. 

"D-8 may take leadership to create job opportunity for the youth of D-8 as well as equip them with necessary skills so that they can actively contribute in the age of 4IR," he said. 

The Bangladesh Foreign Minister also addressed the economic challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and proposed to create a D-8 digital marketplace as well as formulate a suitable-for-all resilient post-pandemic cooperation model.

In order to recover from the detrimental impacts of Covid-19 on the world economy, he further urged D-8 member states to collaborate to explore the way out for economic recovery. 

The Foreign Ministers adopted "Dhaka Declaration 2021", and "D-8 Decennial Roadmap for 2020-2030" and recommended the same to the D-8 Leaders at the upcoming 10th D-8 Summit for final approval.